In this new book, In Pursuit of Wealth: The Moral Case for Finance, Yaron Brook and Don Watkins dispel the prevailing negative myths about finance and clearly lay out the industry’s virtues within a moral framework.

This talk challenges the entire protectionist approach to foreign trade. Dr. Binswanger categorically rejects the view that it is “patriotic” to “buy American.” To the contrary, he argues, purchasing foreign goods when they are a better value is the patriotic act -- one that increases America’s economic power.

Ayn Rand was a champion of capitalism — not of today’s mixture of freedom and government controls, but of “full, pure, uncontrolled, unregulated laissez-faire capitalism.” Why does Rand think that it’s so important to uphold such a radical position (a position that even many libertarians do not take)? In this session Steve Simpson situates Rand’s view of a proper...See More

That innovative black Americans flourished in late 19th- and early 20th- century America is a little-known part of our heritage. This talk celebrates a number of great minds—including Madame C. J. Walker, the first self-made female millionaire in America; George Washington Carver, who revolutionized agricultural science; and others—that, under the freedom of the...See More

The US is facing enormous challenges as it enters the second decade of the twenty-first century. Some of these major issues are environmentalism and its claim of global warming; the danger from terrorism generated by Islamic fundamentalism; and affordable, quality health care. Additionally, education in America remains an unresolved dilemma contributing to America’s...See More

Objectivists know that the entitlement state is an immoral institution that needs to be abolished. But most Americans regard this as unthinkable. What ideas have made the entitlement state sacrosanct? Why haven’t traditional arguments against wealth redistribution—for example, “Social Security is theft”—been effective? How do we convince Americans that need truly...See More

A growing chorus of voices today claim that “cronyism” is rampant in our political system. The claim is used to justify not only restrictions on speech but also efforts to “equalize” incomes on the grounds that the rich allegedly obtain wealth by “gaming” the system. There is some truth to the cronyism claim, but not in the way critics think. This talk exposes the...See More

Freedom of speech is indispensable to a free and civilized society, yet this precious right is increasingly under attack today. • Islamic totalitarians repeatedly threaten and kill those deemed blasphemers, while our political leaders stand idly by, and many intellectuals blame the victims. • College students seek “trigger warnings” and “safe spaces” from...See More

Social Security and Medicare threaten to bankrupt young Americans—and yet few have stepped forward to fight these programs. This talk argues that this is because young people do not see the entitlement crisis as a moral issue—and explains why they should.

Is Income Inequality Destroying the American Dream? Every day we hear from our political leaders and the media that the American Dream is vanishing, and that the cause is rising income inequality. The rich are getting richer by rigging the system in their favor, leaving the rest of us to struggle just to keep our heads above water. To save the American Dream, we’re...See More